Written Answers Monday 9 May 2005

Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulance call-outs from the Cowal area were diverted to Inverary and Arrochar ambulances in each of the last three years.

Mr Andy Kerr: The numbers of emergency incidents attended in the Cowal area by ambulances from Inverary and Arrochar are shown in the table.

  

Station Attending
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05


Inverary
12
30
60


Arrochar
0
6
13



  The number of incidents in the Cowal area attended by ambulances from Inverary and Arrochar has increased against the background of an overall increase in the number of incidents in the Cowal Peninsula (579 in 2002-03 and 826 in 2003-04). This increase also meant that the ambulance based at Dunoon was out of the area more often; transferring patients to hospital in Paisley, Greenock and Glasgow.

  This risk has largely been addressed following recent investment in the area which has seen the ambulance service, on 4 April 2005, introduce an additional accident and emergency unit into Dunoon, which will help support patient transfers out of the area.

Ambulance Service

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average response times were from Inverary and Arrochar ambulances to call-outs from the Cowal area in each of the last three years.

Mr Andy Kerr: The average response times, in minutes, for all emergency incidents attended in the Cowal area by ambulances from Inverary and Arrochar are shown in the table.

  

Station Attending
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05


Inverary
23.5
34.7
35.9


Arrochar
0.0
26.4
35.0



  The number of overall incidents in the Cowal area has increased over the past three years (579 in 2002-03 to 826 in 2004-05). This increase meant that the ambulance based at Dunoon was out of the area more often; transferring patients to hospital in Paisley, Greenock and Glasgow. As a result, the Inverary and Arrochar ambulances have had to travel much further down the Cowal Peninsula to attend incidents which has resulted in a lengthening of response times.

  This risk has largely been addressed following recent investment in the area which has seen the ambulance service, on 4 April 2005, introduce an additional accident and emergency unit into Dunoon, which will help support patient transfers out of the area.

Cancer

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, cancer patients were recruited into clinical trials for therapies and provision of care in (a) breast, (b) colorectal, (c) lung, (d) ovarian and (e) prostate cancer in (i) 2002, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2004.

Mr Andy Kerr: Progress with participation in clinical trials is monitored through the Scottish Cancer Research Network (SCRN) who have only recently established up-to-date monitoring systems to collect and report information. Information is available from April 2004 and is provided in the following table.

  

Tumour Type
No. of Patients Entered Into Trials 2001 (baseline)1
Percentage of All Registrations for 2001
No. of Patients Entered Into Trials(April – Sep 2004)2
Percentage of All Registrations (based on 2001)3


(a) Breast
435
12.1
537
30.0


(b) Colorectal
83
2.4
146
8.3


(c) Lung
78
1.8
155
7.1


(d) Gynaecological4
70
1.6
120
5.5


(e) Prostate
15
0.7
27
2.5



  Notes:

  1. Source - Scottish Cancer Registry, ISD. Represents a 12 month period in 2001. This figure is used as a baseline against which to measure progress.

  2. Source - Scottish Cancer Research Network (SCRN).

  3. Cancer registrations for 2004 are not yet available so 50% of the registrations for 2001 (the most recent year available) have been used to provide an approximation.

  4. Gynaecological cancers consists of seven categories: carcinoma in situ of the cervix uteri, cervix uteri, corpus uteri, ovary, uterus, vagina, and vulva.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, recorded crimes and offences reported to procurators fiscal resulted in "no proceedings" in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.

Colin Boyd QC: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-10095 on 17 September 2004 which presented this information by procurator fiscal office.

  The same information is shown below for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) Areas which correspond to each police force area in each of the complete financial years since 1999. The 11 COPFS Areas were introduced in 2002-03 and replaced six regions which did not correspond to police force areas. For ease of reference, the figures are presented before 2002-03 according to the corresponding new COPFS Area.

  The information is not available to present in this format prior to 1999.

  The information for 2004-05 will be available by the end of July 2005 and I will write again at that time with the additional information.

  The figures given under "Total Reports Received" relate to all reports received by procurators fiscal and include criminal reports, complaints against the police and reports of sudden deaths.

  Cases can be marked "no proceedings" by procurators fiscal for a number of reasons including a lack of sufficient admissible evidence, mitigating circumstances, lack of jurisdiction over the offence, the fact that the suspected offence is not a crime or that a civil remedy is more appropriate than criminal proceedings.

  

COPFS AreaFY 1999-2000
Total Reports Received
Total – No Proceedings
No Pro as % of Total


Central
14,168
1,886
13%


Dumfries and Galloway
10,486
1,423
14%


Fife
13,998
2,849
20%


Grampian
22,666
3,462
15%


Highland and Islands1
13,697
1,513
11%


Lothian and Borders
37,776
5,159
14%


Strathclyde2
151,213
24,857
16%


Tayside
21,714
2,809
13%


COPFS Total
285,718
43,958
15%



  

COPFS AreaFY 2000-01
Total Reports Received
Total – No Proceedings
No Pro as % of Total


Central
15,376
2,439
16%


Dumfries and Galloway
9,456
1,277
14%


Fife
14,921
2,984
20%


Grampian
20,488
1,870
9%


Highland and Islands1
12,943
1,705
13%


Lothian and Borders
39,852
4,545
11%


Strathclyde2
150,834
26,767
18%


Tayside
20,763
2,393
12%


COPFS Total
284,633
43,980
15%



  

COPFS AreaFY 2001-02
Total Reports Received
Total – No Proceedings
No Pro as % of Total


Central
16,817
2,724
16%


Dumfries and Galloway
8,325
1,257
15%


Fife
14,346
2,783
19%


Grampian
20,214
1,998
10%


Highland and Islands1
14,325
1,604
11%


Lothian and Borders
39,640
5,630
14%


Strathclyde2
140,438
24,435
17%


Tayside
21,698
2,085
10%


COPFS Total
275,803
42,516
15%



  

COPFS AreaFY 2002-03
Total Reports Received
Total – No Proceedings
No Pro as % of Total


Central
17,574
2,880
16%


Dumfries and Galloway
8,474
840
10%


Fife
17,500
3,277
19%


Grampian
20,858
2,209
11%


Highland and Islands1
14,578
1,759
12%


Lothian and Borders
40,901
7,383
18%


Strathclyde2
163,175
30,520
19%


Tayside
25,195
2,265
9%


COPFS Total
308,255
51,133
17%



  

COPFS AreaFY 2003-04
Total Reports Received
Total – No Proceedings
No Pro as % of Total


Central
18,746
3,246
17%


Dumfries and Galloway
9,901
1,027
10%


Fife
18,523
2,801
15%


Grampian
20,425
1,628
8%


Highland and Islands1
15,567
1,915
12%


Lothian and Borders
40,655
7,292
18%


Strathclyde2
172,001
21,789
13%


Tayside
29,643
4,004
14%


COPFS Total
325,461
43,702
13%



  Notes:

  1. Corresponds to Northern Constabulary.

  2. Corresponds to Strathclyde Police area and made up of COPFS Areas as follows: Argyll and Clyde, Ayrshire, Glasgow and Lanarkshire

Health

Campbell Martin (West of Scotland) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive how many former UK services personnel are being treated by NHS Scotland, broken down by NHS board area, for illnesses that may be connected with the patients having attended nuclear weapons tests carried out by Her Majesty’s Government in the Pacific Ocean and at Maralinga in Australia between 1952 and 1967 and what the financial implications to NHS Scotland are of providing treatment for such patients.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally. However, epidemiological studies carried out by the National Radiological Protection Board have found that overall levels of mortality and cancer incidence in UK nuclear weapons test participants have continued to be similar to those in a matched control group.

Health

Dr Jean Turner (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Picture Archiving and Communications Systems will be mandatory in Scottish ambulatory care and diagnostic centres, as is the case in England.

Mr Andy Kerr: We are not aware of any mandatory deployment of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems in England. A procurement exercise will soon be concluded which will identify a supplier of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems to NHS Scotland. This system will be deployed where required to archive and retrieve radiological and other complex clinical images including in diagnostic and treatment centres.

Health

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council regarding arrangements for the future supply of ostomy equipment to patients.

Mr Andy Kerr: A consultation on the future arrangements for the supply of appliances currently available on prescription was conducted in 2003 and the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council (SPGC) was one of the bodies that responded.

  The way forward was announced in January 2005. An action plan for the development and implementation of the new arrangements will be published shortly. This will include the establishment of a steering group that will include community pharmacy contractor representation. Additionally, negotiations on the new community pharmacy contract are on-going with the SPGC; these will cover the contractual arrangements in respect of any dispensing by community pharmacists of prescriptions for appliances.

Housing

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15979 by Allan Wilson on 21 April 2005 on the introduction of the Gas Work Notification Scheme, which organisations made representations to it and when.

Allan Wilson: Mr J V S McIver of John Fulton (Plumbers) Ltd wrote to the First Minister on 18 February 2005.

  John Home Robertson MSP wrote on behalf of Ms Catherine Thacker of Bathroom World (Lothian) on 21 February 2005.

  Nora Radcliffe MSP wrote on behalf of Gordon A Campbell, Managing Director of Camwater Ltd on 16 February 2005.

  Mike Weir MP wrote to Nigel Griffiths MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry on behalf of J M Guild of Forfar and other plumbing companies and individual plumbers on 18 March 2005. This correspondence was transferred from Mr Griffith’s office to us for response, presumably because the company that Mr Weir was writing on behalf of was Scottish based. We did not respond to this case but transferred it to the Health and Safety Executive for response.

Housing

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15979 by Allan Wilson on 21 April 2005 on the introduction of the Gas Work Notification Scheme, what the content was of each of the representations made to it.

Allan Wilson: I have arranged for a copy of each of the representations to be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 36394).

Housing

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15979 by Allan Wilson on 21 April 2005 on the introduction of the Gas Work Notification Scheme, why it did not make any representations to the UK Government on the impact of the introduction of the scheme.

Allan Wilson: When we received the first letter on this issue in February we felt that, as the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Better Regulation Task Force and CORGI (the Council for Registered Gas Installers) had all been contacted by the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF) and other UK installer bodies, the best course of action would be to contact HSE and find out what the position was in respect of the claim that SNIPEF had not received any response to their representations. We were informed that the Chair of the HSC had responded to the Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC) which had written on behalf of itself, SNIPEF and two other trade bodies. A response was due to be issued by the Better Regulation Task Force. On this basis and the fact that health and safety is reserved, we felt that it was sufficient to respond setting out this information.

Housing

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to conduct an economic impact assessment on the introduction of the Gas Work Notification Scheme.

Allan Wilson: We have no such plans. The Gas Work Notification Scheme is for CORGI (the Council for Registered Gas Installers), its council and members to decide upon.

Housing

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15979 by Allan Wilson on 21 April 2005 on the introduction of the Gas Work Notification Scheme, what its response will be to those who made representations to it on the scheme.

Allan Wilson: We have already responded to the letters from Mr McIver, John Home Robertson MSP and Nora Radcliffe MSP and copies have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 36395).

  We made no response to the letter from Mike Weir. It was transferred to the Health and Safety Executive for answer.

NHS Equipment

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the correspondence that it has had with Glasgow Western Infirmary with regard to the replacement of CT scanners.

Mr Andy Kerr: Medical equipment replacement, including CT scanners, is a matter for NHS boards who receive capital allocations by Arbuthnott Formula adjusted for cross boundary flows and weighted for the provision of regional specialities. This means that NHS boards can determine, based on their local knowledge or the local needs of the local area how this money should be spent.

  There has been no recent formal correspondence with management at NHS Greater Glasgow or with North Glasgow Hospitals Operating Division, which is responsible for the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, about the replacement of CT scanners within that hospital.

NHS Staff

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many new trained consultants have been employed by NHS Tayside in each year since 1997.

Mr Andy Kerr: The number of newly trained consultants employed by NHS Tayside since 1997 are shown in the following table .

  Newly Trained Consultants Appointed to Grade and Started in Post in NHS Tayside During 1 October TO 30 September

  

 
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004


Headcount
13
16
28
9
13
10
10
10


WTE 1
11.2
14.1
26.4
7.9
12.4
8.9
9.3
8.5



  Source: ISD Scotland

  Notes:

  1. WTE (whole-time equivalent) adjusts headcount figures to take account of part-time staff.

  2. The number of consultants is drawn from the annual medical and dental census undertaken each year by ISD Scotland.

  3. The "Date Appointed to Grade" and "Start Date" have been compared when identifying the numbers in each year. Only where these two dates fall within the same year is the consultant included in the table.

  4. The definition for "Date Appointed to Grade" is the date on which the doctor took up his/her first appointment to a substantive post in the present grade. Earlier service in the grade with any other trust/health board should be reflected by that date.

  In 1998-99, £44 million for waiting times initiative funding was made available nationally, £3.2 million of which was given to NHS Tayside. The data for 1999 reflects the additional consultants who were appointed through this funding stream. Not only did NHS Tayside see a larger than normal increase in consultant numbers but nationally the number of consultants within NHS Scotland grew by 4.3% in 1999. This compared to growth varying between 1.8% and 3.2% in the other years in question.

NHS Staff

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital doctors are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many nurses and midwives are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many chiropodists are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many dietitians are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many occupational therapists are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many orthoptists are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many paramedics are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many physiotherapists are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosthetists and orthotists are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many radiographers are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many speech and language therapists are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: Centrally held information does not explicitly identify those staff eligible to retire at 60. However, information on the ages of staff in post (in five year age bands) in NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce .

  National workforce planning takes into account a number of factors including the age distribution within staff groups.

  A number of recruitment and retention initiatives are underway with others under consideration to ensure that NHSScotland continues to attract and retain the staff it needs.

NHS Staff

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many psychotherapists are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: This information on psychotherapists is not held centrally.

NHS Staff

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the publication of Fair to all, Personal to Each , what rules are in place to avoid recruitment of NHS staff by the independent sector and when the rules will be applied.

Mr Andy Kerr: It might be helpful if I restate our position on staffing issues and the use of NHS capacity in the independent sector to benefit NHS patients. Where the NHS signs contracts for new facilities with the independent sector we will insist on including contract terms that will enable financial penalties to be imposed on a contractor who takes on staff recently employed in the NHS to fulfil the contract. These arrangements will also apply across the rest of the UK. However, we will be flexible and will not discourage recruitment of NHS part-time staff who wish to undertake some additional work in the independent sector, nor will we wish to penalise any joint venture arrangements where staff with the prior agreement of NHS board work flexibly across the NHS and independent sector.

  The department is aware of the difficulties that some NHS boards are experiencing in securing some specialist staff to undertake the various duties within the health service across whole of Scotland. The workforce shortages are being addressed rigorously and NHS boards as employers are pursing several initiatives on behalf of the health service that will make the NHS in Scotland, as an exemplar employer, an attractive career option so to recruit and retain more staff.

Sexual Exploitation

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its news release on 8 March 2004 on International Women’s Day, what progress has been made in setting up the pilot project in Glasgow for the provision of specialist support to women who have been trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation.

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what agencies it is working with to establish the pilot project in Glasgow for supporting women who have been trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation.

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what strategies are in place to reduce and eliminate the practice of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation.

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what support currently exists for women who have been trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation in Scotland.

Malcolm Chisholm: We have strengthened Scots law in this area by creating a new offence of trafficking in prostitution as part of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. The offence is committed if a person arranges or facilitates the arrival in or departure from the UK of another person and intends to control that other person in prostitution or in the production of obscene or indecent material (or believes that a third person is likely to exercise such control over the trafficked person). Conviction for this offence on indictment could result in 14 years imprisonment.

  An expert group has been considering the broader legal, policing, health and social justice issues surrounding prostitution in Scotland. Stage 2 of this review will focus specifically on indoor prostitution and trafficking. It will get underway in the next few months.

  The Scottish Executive awarded £100,000 from 2004-06, under the Violence Against Women Service Development Fund, to a pilot project offering support services to women who have been trafficked. Glasgow City Council is the lead agency and its funding proposal was drawn up after discussions with the Glasgow Inter-Agency Group on Trafficking, including Criminal Justice Social Work, Scottish Refugee Council, Strathclyde Police and Greater Glasgow NHS Trust. The Inter-Agency Group guides and monitors the work of the project.

  The overall aim of the project is to develop expertise around the issue of trafficking for prostitution and to ensure appropriate and sensitive services are in place. A development worker has been recruited to take this work forward and the post holder took up the position on 27 September 2004. Since then the post holder has carried out research on the issues, investigated work happening elsewhere, met with key players, undertaken preliminary work on analysing the indoor sex industry, and drawn up a draft action plan.

  The National Group to Address Violence Against Women, chaired by the Deputy Minister for Communities, is also considering strategic links between different forms of violence against women, including commercial sexual exploitation. This work is at an early stage and is being taken forward with advice from an Expert Committee on Violence Against Women.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Scottish Parliament Staff

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what its recruitment policy is in relation to nationality.

Duncan McNeil (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): : The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has no nationality restrictions in relation to its recruitment policy. Applicants must, however, possess the legal entitlement to reside and work in the UK.